Redpots & Harriet Journal - 7th tank is the charm🪴

[RedPots]

7 months / 7 tanks

i just now went back to the well to grab a 10gallon  1/2 price Aqueon BB PetStore tank while the getting is good. 
i want to try a dry start with the Monte Carlo that need thinning and thought wtf? yolo! i deserve this…

i may have a problem 🤷🏽 

potter, teacher, antique dealer and greenhorn fish keeper journal.

coming at you from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

~1~

a long , long time ago…my now delightful significant other returned from the Pacific NW with a mason jar terrarium and gifted it to me. thoroughly charmed, i added it to a display of new work presented for a holiday show, for ambiance. i had nice pots for sale, i was proud, but - all anyone cared to talk about was that mason jar terrarium 

so i sold it.

fast forward a bunch of years. 
mushroom foraging got me into the forest floor - got me into moss - made me think - i should recreate that mason jar terrarium.

so i did.

made a few more&

 

 

 

found that i really enjoyed keeping living things in glass jars…

( not mine )

enter Harriet Tub Man.

december 2o22.

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by RedPots
Additions / Subtractions

[redfish]

Awesome tanks and terrariums.  MTS is a serious problem 🤣.  

[RedPots]

~2~

Harriet&Redpots : Introductions and Greetings 

5 gallon feels in balance with:

11 embers

 colony of blue shrimps 

& snails 🐌 .

14 gallon cube needed a crew.

so.

Harriet ( male Dumbo betta ) is hanging out in the penthouse ( acrylic .75 gallon floating breeder ).

2 surviving Black Neon Tetras (of 10 - 3 DOA , 5 more dropped like flies - ammonia poisoning 🏴‍☠️ ? )

have been joined by 8 celestial pearl danios

&

i hung a sidecar (Fluval exterior .5 gallon breeder) to grow out 10 ‘algae eating shrimp’ ( Aqua Huna colorless NC ). 
my thought on these shrimp is that they probably have interesting genetic diversity and it’ll be fun to see if offspring present color 🤷🏽.

so this :

exploded into this :

i'm going to rearrange some hard scape and plants to reset territories and spring Harriet from penthouse solitary tomorrow.

the CPDanios are small enough to be tempting prey for the betta - but i think the plants are dense enough to quell any impulses and He’s pretty well adjusted  🙏🏽.

thanks for following along 

🪴🐟💩🪴

 

2a~
 

[RedPots]

 

Looking Good in the Cube. 
Harriet is sprung from solitary. Curious as ever but no aggression 🙏🏽.

CPD are my kind of fish. Apt to tuck into the brush with any sudden movement - but super friendly.  Love the spots - like they are made of stardust. 

[Guppysnail]

I love CPD. They are just so curious about every speck in a tank. 

[RedPots]

I’ve taught pottery for 25 years and learned to introduce students to the concept of ‘studio time’.
5 hours - or a semester - can fly right by -unless you’re waiting for something to dry.

Similar but different phenomena in water life. 
 

Until 5 weeks a go i was keeping 2 Fish.
Harriet (pictured here under a 6 week old ACO Tiger Lotus w. its1st Lilly Pad)

and

Arthur (not pictured). The OG white Goldfish who came in With 4 other feeders and decided to stick a round. 
He’s hung in there as I’ve learned some ropes & is fixin to move from a Coleman cooler to this Walstad inspired 10.  


I tired of the dry start Monte Carlo experiment. My heart wasn’t in it…

so - 

I’ll let this cycle with a few stowaway snails and move Arthur up in awhile. 

Kind of nice to have a plants only - no bubbles tank going. Though Arthur will appreciate the change of scenery. 
and there’s always the cooler…

any tips for a filter less planted 10 w. 1 common goldfish are welcome.

#Walstad #goldfish 

✌🏽🪴🐟

Edited July 21, 2023 by RedPots
grammar

[RedPots]

Arthur with Bodhidharma & Val. 

This growing boy(?) is at home in a 29 gallon Valissneria Valissneria forest.

Ramshorns help with cleanup and old Bodhidharma sets the tone.

Do we make him a bigger tank in 18 months ? 
or

Do we find him a legit pond ?

While i hold a SuperSoftSpot for goldfish

and Arthur is like family … 

i continue to learn that a goldfish simply is not an Apartment fish.

10+ years.

12+ inches. 
55 gallon minimum (each).

$o.59 can get you into quite a 🥒.

but who doesn’t Love that face ?

other tanks are doing well - enjoying a journey from tanks with some plants in them -to> planted tanks.

🪱

14 gallon cube - CPD / Ember Tetra / Black Neon Tetra ; Wild Type Neocaridina colony.

 

🪱

5 gallon Ember tetra & shrimp 

🪱

& Harriet in his own 10 gallon + a handful of juvenile shrimp that seem to be fairing well

i am just a little better than a year back into the hobby and continue to learn so much.

the daily grind of required attention is a great ballast for me.

too many plants, dying plants, cloudy water, oh no Fry !, hair algae, too much light, not enough light, shrimpsplosion 👍🏽, snailspolsion 👎🏽, fin rot or fin rip ? Repashy great in here - not so good in here, how’s the water ? …

Co-op CARE forum continues to be my go to resource on the daily as i navigate something like facility in eco system management.

Giant thanks to all the advice givers and experience sharers out there….

 

[RedPots]

Medaka Bowl dreaming…